Why I Hate Digidesign, Vol 36 rev C

My little sister could write drivers better than the absolute travesty that Digi pawns off as the Mbox driver. It's always been a problematic little piece of code, but once I finally installed OSX 10.4, it actually became agressively stupid, making it the President Bush of drivers.

My normal course of action when installing a new Mbox CoreAudio driver is to uninstall the old one first, because Digi manages to write drivers that actually compete with each other for the same piece of hardware, which is stupid. So I do that, then install the latest CoreAudio driver from the Digi page, and the Mbox doesn't show up as a possible CoreAudio device any more. What's more, when I run an application that has audio, the stupid Digi Hardware Manager thing still pops up, but you can't connect, because it says the hardware is in use.

I put up with Apple's quirks because I like OSX (for surfing, email, iChat, etc.; not, as I've made plain, for making music.) But putting up with Apple doesn't mean I have to put up with the shoddy driver guys at Digidesign. So, the Mbox gets pitched. Fuck this stupid hunk of plastic, and fuck the company that made it. It has been nothing but trouble since the day I got it.

15 comments:

Page 2 of 2

Oct.27.2005 @ 4:44 AM

drben

You will never notice your interface again if you buy a Cardbus and Multiface by RME.

After years of Wami (cerrrrash), M-Audio (hissssss), MBox (freeze motherfu...) I can honestly say I don't understand why anybody uses anything other than RME. I'd have got so much more done if I'd bought one six years ago. The quality of all other interfaces is so poor that you are better off using ASIO4ALL and your built in soundcard (which is an excellent portable backup solution for lappies).

Oct.27.2005 @ 2:38 PM

blinkman

I back RME too, for what it's worth. I've had a DIGI96/52 for years. It always works. It's fast. I never have to think about it.

The Hammerfall was my main card for years, before I Switched to MOTU FW interfaces. (Back when I had a Soundcraft Digital328, the worst-designed piece of gear in existence not made by Behringer.) When I pitched the mixer (and I literally threw it out in the alley behind my house) I did away with the RME in favor of the MOTU devices. However, when I switch to Apogee convertors, finances permitting, I'll go back to the Hammerfall.

That said, I just need some stupid little OSX-savvy 2 in/2 out box. It doesn't have to be all that. Just something that fucking works.

-CR

Oct.28.2005 @ 10:53 PM

taynaron

Chris, forgive me if you've answered this a ton before, but when and why did you get a Mac? Pre-Positron, I was under the impression that you hated them passionately.

Feb.16.2007 @ 1:10 PM

justin_russo

M-Audio is pissing me off. No drivers for Windows Vista for my Quattro Pro, which is now a paper weight, and the only answer their Tech Staff can give me is that when the drivers are available, they will appear on their page. No Beta Drivers!!! Nothing!!! No target Date either.

Here read this Sh1t!!!

"Currently, M-Audio does not offer Vista drivers or Vista software updates (beta or otherwise). As soon as Vista drivers or updates for any product are available, this FAQ and other portions of our Web site will be immediately updated to reflect this. Due to the nature of software and driver development, we are not able to provide exact dates or timeframes for when specific drivers will become available?but please rest assured that supporting Vista is a top priority for us.

As Vista drivers become available they will be posted to our Drivers page <link [www.m-audio.com];">link [www.m-audio.com] . If a driver is offered during the beta (pre-release) phase of its development, you will need to click the ?Show Beta Drivers? option on the Drivers page in order to view and download that particular driver."